Ukraine’s missile attacks have destroyed more than 30 Russian military logistics centers in recent weeks and significantly reduced Russia’s offensive potential, a Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
Official Oleksandr Motuzianyk on Friday pointed to the role of the US-made HIMARS missile system, one of many long-range weapons provided by the West to help Ukraine fight Russia.
“Over the past weeks, more than 30 enemy military logistics facilities have been destroyed, so the offensive potential of Russian forces has been significantly reduced,” Motuzianyk said on state television.
Russia, that Invasion of Ukraine on 24 February, captured part of southern Ukraine and used its artillery superiority in the east to gradually gain territory, eventually capturing the Luhansk region.
However, a top Ukrainian military official on Thursday said Russia had not taken “one meter” of land in the last week and that Ukraine’s missile attacks were disrupting Russian supply lines. , forcing Moscow to back away from its ammunition depot from the front lines.
Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the statements from Ukrainian officials.
HIMARS has a longer range and is more accurate than Soviet-era Ukrainian artillery, allowing Ukrainian forces to strike Russian targets that were previously inaccessible with conventional weapons.
Ukraine’s defense minister also said on Friday that Kyiv had received the first batch of multiple M270 missile launchers, without specifying which country supplied them.
Russia has criticized the US and UK for helping train Ukraine’s armed forces, calling it part of NATO’s “mixed war” against Moscow.
Moscow says Washington is also providing Ukraine with instructors to help use HIMARS.
This week, Kyiv said its forces had launched attacks on Russian military infrastructure in a city deep within Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine.
Fighting in Donetsk
Moscow-backed separatists on Friday said they were targeting their next target – the city of Siversk – after taking control of sister cities Lysychansk and Severodonetsk two weeks ago.
Donetsk separatist official Daniil Versonov said rebel fighters were “cleaning up” the eastern districts of Siversk in small groups.
An attack on Friday hit the central square in Kramatorsk, a large city and the administrative center of Donbas, where the town hall and cultural center are located.
Authorities say no one has been injured since it happened during curfew.
Genya, a 72-year-old resident of Kramatorsk, described seeing from his balcony “something on fire in the middle of the square and then it exploded”.
The Russian Defense Ministry also said the trip on Thursday missile attack on the city of Vinnytsia – where 23 civilians were killed, including children – headed into a building where top officials of the Ukrainian armed forces were meeting with foreign arms suppliers.
Ukraine has denied any military targets were hit, saying the attack hit a cultural center used by retired veterans and killed only civilians.
Emergency worker was arrested
Also on Friday, an official of the self-proclaimed pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) stated the death of a British citizen Paul Urey, 45 years old.
Daria Morozova, human rights ombudsman for Moscow-backed separatist leaders in Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, said a British “mercenary”, whom she named Urey, died in captivity on Sunday. She said he died of chronic illness and stress.
A UK charity involved in his case confirmed that Urey’s family had been informed of his death by British officials. The UK summoned Russian Ambassador Andrei Kelin on Friday to express “deep concern” over reports of Urey’s death.
British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Urey was “in Ukraine to try and help the Ukrainian people in the face of Russia’s gratuitous aggression”, echoing claims from NGOs that he is not is a warrior.
Urey was detained in April at a checkpoint near Zaporizhzhia, about 470 km (290 mi) southeast of Kyiv, along with another British man, Dylan Healy. The two have operated separately in war zones, helping to evacuate civilians.
Two other UK citizens and a Moroccan manwho was arrested while fighting for Ukraine, was sentenced to death at the DPR for alleged mercenary activities.
